South Korea Friday gave a green light to a request by aid workers to visit North Korea, the first such approval since the communist state's nuclear test in May.
The Unification Ministry said seven workers from World Vision's South Korean branch will begin their eight-day trip to Pyongyang and other North Korean provincial cities Saturday.
Seoul imposed a travel ban immediately after North Korea conducted its second nuclear test on May 25, citing political tension in the region. Only business-related trips involving a joint industrial complex in the North Korean border town of Gaeseong and a tourism resort in Mt. Geumgang were exempt from the ban.
World Vision said the trip is aimed at resuming assistance in potato farming in North Korea.
"The decision was made based on the government's position that humanitarian assistance to North Korea should be continued," ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung was quoted as saying.